NL Notes: Green, Webb, Brewers, Dodgers, Cardinals

While there was no contract length reported at the time of his signing, Padres skipper Andy Green inked a three-year contract when he was named manager of the club, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. Green’s deal also contains at least one club option, according to Heyman, who notes that despite the club’s poor record under Green, the team’s decision-makers like him very much. It’s not really fair to judge Green based on the Padres’ record anyhow, given the team’s aggressive rebuild.

A few more notes from around the Senior Circuit…

Brewers GM David Stearns chatted with Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel following his team’s acquisition of left-hander Tyler Webb from the Yankees earlier today. The 26-year-old Webb’s history of missing bats and limiting free passes in the minors were points in his favor for the Brewers, per Stearns, whose big league bullpen has had few left-handed options thus far in 2017. “He has three options remaining, which gives us flexibility over the next couple of years, and we think he has the ability to help us in the near term as well,” said Stearns. “We’ve been looking, in general, to improve our depth and potentially upgrade our relief pitching as a whole. Those guys, we’ve used them a lot, asked a lot out of them.” It’s clear that the Brewers do view Webb as a near-term piece, as well, given that Haudricourt also tweeted today that Webb will jump directly into the Major League bullpen tomorrow, with Michael Blazek being optioned to Triple-A.

Stearns also spoke with MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand in the wake of the division-rival Cubs’ blockbuster acquisition of Jose Quintana. Asked if the Brewers felt any pressure to quickly “respond” to the trade by swinging a deal of his own, Stearns suggested that he wouldn’t act so rashly. “I think that can be a little bit dangerous,” the GM explained. “We have to make moves that make the most sense for our franchise, and that’s regardless of what a particular rival or another team in our division is doing. … Obviously we’re going to continue to look at the market and see if there’s a fit for us down the road.” Stearns didn’t expressly rule out making a significant addition of his own, though his further comments to Feinsand cast some doubt on how willing he would be to part with his top tier of prospects.

Dodgers president Andrew Friedman somewhat downplayed his club’s need to make a move, writes Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times, but McCullough reports that they’re expected to be on the hunt for bullpen upgrades. “[W]e’re a lot more selective than we’ve been in the past,” Friedman said. “Part of that speaks to our organizational talent level, at this point, as well as the depth behind it. But also, the culture that has been created among this group of players — it’s something that’s special. I can’t really see us messing with that, short of doing something that makes an incredible amount of sense to us.” The Dodgers do indeed have interest in Zach Britton, per McCullough, though it’s not clear that the Orioles will make him available. McCullough also adds that the club could take a look at right-hander Walker Buehler in a relief capacity later this season. The 2015 first-rounder has dominated through 10 Double-A starts thus far, but it stands to reason that the Dodgers will want to manage his workload eventually.

The Cardinals are in an uncertain position with the trade deadline looming, and president of baseball ops John Mozeliak tells Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he’ll have a very open-minded approach at the deadline. “The nuances of trying to determine how we think about improvement between now and July 31st still seems a bit unclear because of our inconsistencies,” said the recently promoted Mozeliak. “…“The point is over the next (18) days we have to be open-minded and really be willing to explore anything that we can put on the table.” Goold writes that while the Cards have a desire to bolster this roster — specifically, by adding a middle-of-the-order bat and/or a shortstop — it’s also possible that they could at the same time sell off some short-term assets like Lance Lynn.

Comments

As a Brewers fan I’m thrilled the Brewers didn’t give up Brinson/Hader to get that deal done with the White Sox. I know you win with MLB level players but the Brewers are still a year or two away from being serious contenders. I’ve seen a lot of comments that say “prospects don’t matter” but then I go back to the two deals the Brewers made just recently. Domingo Santana/Hader and Phillips for Gomez/Fiers and Lucroy for Brinson/Ortiz and Cordell both show signs of great returns. I’ve learned not to doubt the Brewers front office in recent moves.

Prospects matter greatly, and anyone who says otherwise, has no idea what they are talking about.

Whether they are used as potential trade chips, whether they are acquired to help a rebuild, or whether they are simply brought up to contribute to the ML roster, prospects are not only important, they are vital to the current and long-term success of a franchise…

The key is knowing which ones to develop and keep, which ones to trade, and targeting the best ones to fit your franchise…Every prospect is available for the right price, but as fans we seem to always over value our own favorite teams prospects…

Prospects are what makes a rebuilding team fun to follow, and they give hope to fans of a brighter future…Prospects are what makes the baseball world go round, from teams, to front offices, to fans reading articles and box scores from around the minor leagues…Prospects have never been followed so closely, nor been made so available to the average fan, and that is one big reason we tend to fall in love with our teams biggest prospects…

Ideally he should have publicly said something about the refusal of the mlb to do anything about either.

Green didnt have to tell people to throw at hitters and hit them. Calling out the mlbs lack of action, taking a fine, and/or suspension would of had the same effect as a manager sticking up for his guys.

Also, he showed little to no recourse about wood threatening to throw at pirela either. Again should have put the mlb on notice about wood being allowed to stay in the game after telling an ump he would throw at pirelas head. No action taken by green.

Rizzo running into hedges on purpose to knock the ball loose, contreras tripping our pitcher by blocking home plate before he had the ball, and wood threatening to drill pirela in the head cause he thought pirela was stealing signals. Green didn’t do much of anything about them and didn’t stick up for them as much as he should have.

Honestly though idk how Green was even ejected from that game when Roberts lost his mind and attacked Green. Green should have done something ejection worthy but he didn’t and idk how he still got ejected. Idk how he got fined either. Didn’t do anything ejection or fine worthy lol. Should have but didn’tlink to sandiegouniontribune.com

I agree, the fact that he got thrown out and fined when Roberts and Wood were the ones at the center of incident is ridiculous.

Then again, maybe it’s MLB trying to make sure that one of its premier franchises don’t look like total “bad guys”. Just like how they didn’t want to have one their “faces” in Rizzo look like the fool that he is when he pummeled into Hedges and blatantly broke the slide rule.

Dear “state school teacher’s aide,” u seem to know a lot of meaningless stats from cellar dwelling Pads, I respect ur fanaticism, everybody has their calling….urs is the Brad Hand Shrine in ur living room….ur wearing his jersey right now, aren’t u….? Oh yea, I wouldn’t be bragging on SDst too much, ur better than that….It’s like saying, Grossmont CC Rules! Only cpl more tough months of baseball season left….then u can root for ur Chargers! Too soon…?

Bragging about SDSU? Since when is being proud of graduating college and being an alumni bragging?

I get it now. Your grades werent good enough to get out of community college were they Sam? SDSU rejected your transfer huh. From your comment I can see why. Actually, Grossmomt college even rejected you huh? That’s classic cause they accept pretty much everyone.

Urs, cpl, and … please dont tell me you put those in English papers man.

Meaningless stats that are widely accepted as indicators of how well a pitcher performs. But you know meaningless.

Run along now and cry more about being a community college reject kid.

Some basic psychology. If you allow the bully to beat you up he will continue to beat you up. If you stand up for yourself, he will pick on someone else that doesn’t stand up for himself.
Green lost that encounter by not doing either A going ballistic at the call on the field or B having his pitchers plunk the Rizzo the next time up. He ensured that in the future teams will beat up on the Padres at every opportunity since there are no repercussions.
Green also lost respect in the clubhouse. As a former player, I can say that with complete confidence. As a player, you want a manager that shows he has your back, not just a guy that says he has your back. Green had two ways to do that and he failed to do either.

As a former player myself, I see where you’re coming from. However, you have to know when to pick your battles. The whole Rizzo incident was ridiculous, no question about that, but I feel like Green did not do anything because he was expecting MLB to take action. Obviously they didn’t (which was totally stupid in my opinion), but it had all blown over at that point. The next time those teams meet, it will be interesting to see what happens, but until then, we can only speculate.

The Padres played another game against the Cubs after MLB said it was an illegal play but did nothing. Doesn’t change my thoughts. I would not have played in high school, college or the pros for a guy that had that little backbone. My managers were warriors and expected us to be warriors too. That attitude was part of the reason why we won.

Good, I want the Dodgers to be selective, almost to the point of Zach Britton or bust. Nothing against Brad Hand, but I really hope we don’t go after him, I don’t see him as an improvement big enough to warrant giving up any one of our top ten prospects.

To fetch a ton he needs to prove that he’s come back from his injuries. Maybe over the next couple of weeks he can do that but the time isn’t long. He might make a better candidate for trade after the non-waiver deadline.

Britton might clear, if he continues to underperform for the rest of the month. He’s making over $11M this season (with the prospect of being awarded quite a bit more next year, his final year of arbitration). Placing him on waivers is risk-free because a player can always be pulled back if he’s claimed and no trade is worked out. The lack of risk for the controlling team is why so many players get put on revocable waivers in August. The point being, if he returns to form over the next couple of weeks, the revokable waiver scenario is less likely, but if his health is still a question, it might be the way to go because it give Baltimore a few more weeks to showcase him. We see this process play out every summer, so it should not be a mystery.

I hope this means Mo is willing to blow this thing up. Get a haul from the Yankees for Carpenter, get some prospects from Washington for Siegrist and Oh, trade Pham, Lynn, Wong, Greg Garcia. Consider trading Wacha and Grichuk. Load up a bit. If they don’t like what they see in Voit the rest of the way Hosmer will be a FA. Put Diaz at 2B and if he doesn’t bounce back then Moustakas is a FA and move Gyorko back to 2B or Cozart is a FA and move DeJong to 2B. They are more than 1 or 2 additions from being good this year. Blow it up and get the prospects to build it back for 2018 and longer.

Unless Degrom hits the market, I don’t see the Dodgers going into the market for a SP. They might have some information on Kazmir we don’t know or take what we have and make a 4 man playoff rotation of Kershaw, Wood, McCarthy and Hill. LH bullpen piece would be nice. Maybe Doolittle or Justin Wilson. Doubt the Os seriously consider selling Britton or we pony up the prospects they would want.

I’m not a Padres fan, but it almost seems too obvious that Green will not last past the 2018 season, if he lasts that long.

The Padres will want a new face, a new mentality, and a new coach that will demand the respect of his players, but more importantly one that will show he unquestionably has their back through the grind that is a ML season…

Green just is not the correct manager for what the Padres need, and it is just my personal opinion, but the writing is already on the wall…

Andy Green isn’t as bad as people seem to perceive. First he was brought in to head a rebuild and help develop young players which he is doing. Second, even though the Padres record is terrible this year, they are actually 23-20 in their last 43 games. He gets the most out of his players, but to start the year he was stuck with some players like Jared Weaver who basically was an automatic loss each time he pitched. When a team goes full rebuild they look more at the growth and leadership of the manager and even though people mistakenly call him a wimp, he respected what Torre told ownership and didn’t go against his management. Smart career move.

I totally agree. Green is doing the best that he can with what he’s been given. You’ve got to credit the guy for not giving up, especially when he’s got guys like Jared Weaver and Erik Aybar on the roster.

They better get something done. I’m a huge Alex Wood fan, but he CANNOT be relied upon to stay healthy the rest of the season, much less for a lengthy playoff run as well…

I hope he proves me wrong, but until he does, I wouldn’t want to put the majority of my eggs in any basket carried by Wood. He’s a hell of a pitcher, when he’s healthy, but he just hasn’t proven he can stay healthy for any long period of time…

How can you argue Andy didn’t stick up for his players? The Rizzo incident Andy questioned the application of the rule as written with the umpire crew. He was told outside of calling Rizzo out there was descresion to eject but since the replay review supported the call on the field the lost the ability to eject. In his press conference after ,it was never about the play being dirty. It was about why isn’t the rule as it is written being enforced. MLB eventually admitted Andy was right and the call wasn’t handled right but Torre failed to act. To me that is sticking up for your player.

The Wood incident was essentially the same. Andys gripe was the umpire heard Alex threaten to hit Jose and issued warnings. Andys beef was his player was threatened; why not eject him and why are you issuing warnings . Even Dave Roberts said in the post game press conference Andy had every right to have a beef with how the umpires handled the situation but when Andy escalated it and was directing his anger at on of Docs players; he’s no longer ok with that. Again Andy went out protested what occurred; taking up for his players. Just because he didn’t go all Lou Pinela he’s a wimp?

There is room to argue old school vs. turn the other cheek but in my eyes Andy defended his players while making sure there was no future carry over. As he said, he’s focused on trying to win games. Works for me.

Exactly. Very well put man. As a manager, you expect MLB to enforce these rules, and yet they don’t. Green’s not going to stoop to back-and-forth retaliation antics. It will be interesting to see how things go the next time they face the Cubs, but until then, it’s important to just focus on the game. and work on getting the best out of the players.

It is one thing to talk. It’s another to do. Green did nothing in either situation.

Ultimately it will cost him his job. It takes passion, a fire in your belly that you exhibit not talk about, to lead a team through a long baseball season and win consistently. Green is not the kind of warrior that players will want to follow into battle for 162 games when they are expected to win, not expected to lose like this year.

Baloney. Beanballs are stupid and dangerous. Ray Chapman is the only player killed in a major league game by a fastball to the head. (Accidental, but still). Tony Conigliaro’s career was ended by a beanball. Two inches higher and Mike Stanton’s would have been as well. Adam Greenberg…you don’t hurl an object intentionally at anyone at 95.mph. That’s not being a “warrior.” It’s just dumb petty escalation.

I’ve been a Cardinals fan since 1968 and I can tell you that the Cards best option at the trade deadline is to be a seller. They have already shown that they are not a .500 team.

The trade deadline is when teams significantly overpay for questionable talent. The Cardinals have no chance this year. Logically they will not get to the playoffs. But even if they are lucky enough to get there they don’t have the talent to last there…

Their best option is to shop questionable talent (Lynn, Carpenter, Gyorko, etc.) and either beef up their minors or get other assets whether it be cash or players. They should not chase the 2017 pennant because they will never obtain it..

I’ve been a Cardinal fan since 1955. I do think the accusations of two players such as Stanton and Robertson from the White Sox would put them in the World Series hunt for more than just this year. Getting rid of Wong and bringing up Mejia, plus adding Carpenter as trade bait would help acquire that Star big bat!! Notice I said star big bat. Proven star, all-star like that hits a bunch of doubles too. Not a one season big bat that either strikes out or hits a homer run as they had last year.

Absolutely. Where the Cubs are is irrelevant. This team has a porous infield, a non-existent bullpen, a starting lineup that is beginning to tire, and a pitiful average with RISP. One or two overpriced mid season replacements are not going to fix the multiple problems under the arch.

I can’t understand why the Cardinals keep bringing up Lance Lynn to be traded. He has the highest winning percentage of all of the active Cardinals on the team. I do understand that he can become a free agent. I do understand he could get some return. However, he would be traded to a contender and that would work against them. He’s better than Leake,